IELTS Writing Task 2 Sample 520 - In Britain, when someone gets old often go to live with other old people
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IELTS Writing Task 2/ IELTS Essay:
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
In Britain, when someone gets old they often go to live in a home with other old people where there are nurses to look after them. Sometimes the government has to pay for this care.
Who do you think should pay for this care, the government or the family?
Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience.
You should write at least 250 words.
Sample Answer 1:
A visible change of any living organism is getting older. Child, youth, adult and elder are some of the stages in our life. Child and elderly stages are dependent stages compared to other two stages. For both of these situations, a human being needs other’s support.
While we were children, our parents were there for our supportive role. When the parents became older, definitely their children need to be the supportive role for their parents. This is the role we carry among human beings vice versa. If the parents live with their children only parents will feel safer, attached to family and sharing of love. Unfortunately, many of them attending to works, they do not have time to look after their children neither their parents. In this case, elders could be sending to some a common place where other elders are staying. But payment cannot be made by the government.
Since it is the responsibility of their family, definitely family needs to pay for caring of their parents. They may not have enough time to take care of their parents. Since the government has employed special people for that, at least those elders’ parents need to be paid by their family.
For an example, many of the parents were private sector employees and they did not have a monthly pension scheme. But they have only Employee provident fund and employee trust funds. It has been used by the children of the parents in plantation sector of Sri Lanka. Finally, children will neither look after their parents nor elderly parents do not have own money in hand. That is, all advantages utilised from elders. When they become a stage of the dependent, families are trying to escape from their responsibilities. This is a kind of selfish. Paid by the government should be stopped and families should be paid for them.
Especially the children are responsible for looking after the parents; they should definitely pay for the parents and not the government.
( Written by - Niro)
Sample Answer 2:
At present, most of the elderly population are left under the care of home-cares due to the fact that the younger family members are too busy with their work and could not provide sufficient care and attention for the later. In addition, some of the family members even fail to provide financial support. Hence, the government has left no choice but to pay for their care. Some people believe financial responsibility should be given to the family, however, I strongly believe that the government should take greater responsibility. This argument is supported by stating some of the reasons why I agree.
First and foremost, there are variations in each family's financial capabilities. Some can provide sufficient support for the elderly, while some fail to do so. This instability is risky, therefore the government, which has the sufficient resources could somehow assist them instead. For instance, a family member may have no job when an elderly needs hospitalisation. In this case, giving the responsibility to the government will be an advantage.
Moreover, a majority of the elderly had been productive during their earlier life. Some of them have paid insurances, government fees and taxes. These contributions had been helpful in establishing the government. Hence, in return, the government should help them, now that they already are debilitated. For example, as an intake coordinator for insurances, I am aware that in the United States, productive citizens, who work in a company are paying monthly contributions for their Medicare insurances. When the time comes that these citizens became old and sick, the government is mandated to support their needs.
In summary, financial support for elderly citizens should be a responsibility for both the family and the government. However, because the government is more stable they should take greater responsibility.
( Written by - Arlyn Crescini )
Sample Answer 3:
The concept of old homes is very prevalent in modern societies. However, this trend has dramatically increased in some developing and developed countries over the last few years. Senior citizens prefer to live in those homes because of better interaction and care facilities. Some people argue that state is responsible for looking after their people and should spend money on their care. Others claim that expenses should be bear by family in response to hard work and effort for providing health, education and other amenities of life to their family members. I believe that it is a mutual duty of family and government to support them financially.
Family plays a substantial role in providing comfort to their elders, therefore effort of senior citizens should be acknowledged as they have spent all their for the upbringing and taking care of children health, education and other necessities of life. During the old age of their parent, it is a primary obligation of the family members not to deprive them of their basics financial needs.
On the other hand, senior citizens had served their entire life while serving in both public and private sector for the betterment of the country. They have deposited chucks of money in government funds in term of taxes throughout their services, this makes them eligible for the help of the government in the time of need.
To sum up, I would like to say that government should take necessary measures for making comfort and ease in senior people lives. Their health-related issues should be urgently solved while not taking even a single penny from them. Moreover, the family is also responsible of their elders need and must put their maximum efforts to make them happy during their last days.
( Written by - Fahad Sultan )
Sample Answer 4:
One of the most challenging and controversial questions of today’s society is that who should be responsible for old people’s care and expenses: either it should be the government or the family members. In my opinion, it should be a mutual responsibility of both the government and the family.
To start with, parents plays the most important and strong part in a child’s life. They give them values, manners, love and care. They provide them support morally as well as financially. They try their best to give their child the ideal life they could imagine.
So, when these parents get old and need help and support in almost every manner, then children should not run from their duties. They should take care of their parents as good as their parents did when they were young.
On the other hand, all the families don’t have the same structures. Some might have problems such as financial or accommodation. Then at this point, I believe that the government should come forward and take steps to make senior citizen’s lives better. The people who are now old have paid the tax in their whole life and that’s why the government should take their financial responsibilities as well. Old citizens should have equal rights on government funds as they have served and paid taxes which help the government to run the state. I strongly claim that government should have a fixed fund or deposit for individuals and as well as for old homes.
In addition, I like the idea of the security deposit as for example, an old person can live with his family without being a burden on them. Finally, in my opinion, both the government and the family should possible responsibility to make senior citizens happy and give them a comfortable life.
( Written by - Mansoor Afzal)
Firstly, if family members have to pay the cost, then they will think twice before separating their parents or grandparents from themselves. I strongly feel that people become more emotional when they get older and need a greater extent of love and affection from their immediate family instead of the care given by the nurses. If the cost is higher, many families would not dare to send their seniors to old homes. Likewise, if the governments bear the expenses, there is a high probability of families sending their older parents to old age homes. To avoid overcrowding these care centres, childless and homeless elderly should get priority, in my opinion. I have come across a plethora of stories when I have visited an NGO for some professional reasons, that just because money and expenditure, many parents at their 70s or 80s had to move to shelter house.
Finally, the government has many priorities and sectors to look after. If it starts pouring money on sectors that should have been taken cared for by private citizens, it would be impossible for the authority to concentrate on development.
To recapitulate, I strongly believe that the cost of elderly people's care should be supported by the family as opposed to by the government because of the reasons like morality, responsibility, humanity and development of the country.
According to me and in general, a man offers his lifelong services to his country and takes part in the development of his motherland. Moreover, he pays taxes on his income, property and all for things he buys. In addition to it, sometimes the families are not much well off to take care of the expenses of their elderly person. For instance, if there will be a medical emergency, the poor people will not be capable enough to medicate their parents. In this situation, government resources will be the lifesaver.
I also believe that the descendants are also responsible to some extent. For example, if they are prosperous, they can provide monthly aid to the old-age nursing centre for the comfort of their parents as well as for other feebles.
In brief, in my opinion, it is a call of duty of the administration of the country as well as the families to take part in the funding to enhance the rest of the lives of their old parents.
Firstly, most parents spend their life sacrificing to satisfy the needs and desires of their children. In other words, they spend a major portion of their income towards providing quality education and comfortable housing for the family. For instance, an average worker in my country will commute to the workplace through public transport but ensures that their children study in the best college and have motorbike or car to reach college. So it's the responsibility of every child in the family to take care of their parents at their elder age. Secondly, elders expect the affection of their grandchildren and would love to spend time with them, so sending them to care homes will make it an impossible option. Finally, the treatment or care given by nurses will never match with the love and support from the family.
In addition to this, care comes with a cost and it will be an additional burden for the authorities to take care of all the senior citizens in Britain. On the other hand, the government can spend these fund towards eradicating poverty and providing basic healthcare for the needy if families take responsibilitie s of their elderly members. For example, developing countries like India and China spend about 30% of the yearly budget to provide support for senior citizens.
To conclude, the government has a responsibility to take care of its citizens in the country, including the elderly population, but I strongly believe that the government's involvement must come into picture if their children are also under below poverty line and when they are not truly able to provide financial support to their parents.
People who are now old have contributed to a great extent to built up the nation throughout their whole life. Some of these senior citizens may have fought many wars for their beloved country, while some of them may have dedicated their whole lives for the welfare of the country. So, the government must serve these senior citizens in return and make sure they live a happy and healthy life at a place which is maintained by the state.
Moreover, senior citizens have a vital role in guiding young generation, however, It is a dilemma that some of the senior citizens don't have their families and there is no one to look after them. In this case, someone has to take up responsibility and the government is the only hope of such people. Senior citizens are veteran in many fields, and they are highly skilled and experienced. For instance, my grandfather served the military for decades, and he joined a security agency afterwards. He is teaching in a higher secondary school and benefiting young students with his experience and knowledge.
Senior citizens are important assets of our society, and they deserve respect and honour for their services. Even if a family is capable of taking care of their old respectable family members, it is still the responsibility of the government to appreciate them for the sacrifices they have made in their entire lives.